1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a power generator, and more particularly to a hand-free starter for a power generator, which is adapted for starting the engine to drive the generator via a recoil starter in a hand-free manner.
2. Description of Related Arts
A conventional power generator, especially for a portable power generator, comprises an engine and a generator driven by the engine, wherein the engine generally comprises a recoil starter to start the engine. The recoil starter generally has a cable opening formed at the engine and comprises a starter cable having a pulling end extending out of the engine through the cable opening and a hand bar attached to the pulling end of the starter cable. Accordingly, the starter cable has an operation length adapted to be pulled via the hand bar to generate an initial momentum to start the engine. However, such power generator has several drawbacks.
As it is mentioned above, the user must apply a pulling force by hand to pull the starter cable for starting the engine. Although the power generator is convenient and useful, the user always has problem to apply enough pulling force to start the engine. For the small engine, such as less than 10 horsepower, the user must apply 20 to 40 pound force for each pulling action. In other words, if the user pulls the starter cable four times, he or she will totally take 80 to 160 pound force to start the engine. In fact, the user will be tried after several trails of pulling the starter cable. However, the engine requires the certain initial momentum to be started such that it is getting harder and harder for the user to start the engine after the user has pulled the starter cable for several times.
The engine of the power generator must be started by hand. The design of such recoil starter is particularly fit for the user having a powerful arm. It means that if the arm of the user is weak or injury, the user is unable to start the engine. In addition, the recoil starter is mainly designed for the right-hand user, the left-hand user may not have enough power to pull the starter cable to start the engine.
Furthermore, since the power generator is designed for enhancing the portability. The size of the power generator should be small. Therefore, the user must bend down his/her body to reach the hand bar and to pull the starter cable. In other words, the user may hurt his/her body and/or arm during the pulling action when his/her body is at the bending down position.